Approved for 12+

Alleged

"Alleged" is a romantic drama based on events occurring behind the scenes and outside the courtroom of the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925.

Charles Anderson (Nathan West), a talented young reporter, feels trapped living in a tiny town (Dayton, TN, 1925) in steep decline. Using the Monkey Trial as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break into the journalistic big leagues, Charles becomes the eager protégé of Baltimore Sun editor H.L Mencken (Colm Meany), America's most colorful and influential columnist. The trial itself lives up to its billing as the "Trial of the Century" when the great Clarence Darrow (Brian Dennehy) defends the theory of evolution against the popular statesman and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan (Sen. Fred Thompson) who sees the reduction of mankind to mere animal status as both inaccurate and potentially disastrous. Once in the midst of this staged event, Charles is torn between his love for the more principled Rose (Ashley Johnson), his fiancée, and the escalating moral compromises that he is asked to make by the agnostic and acerbic Mencken. When the truth is at stake, Charles discovers, some lies just have to be told.

"Alleged" is a true story of conflicts that boiled over in 1925 but that remain simmering with us to this day - evolution and creation in the public schools, the role of science in society, and media sensationalism motivated by religious and political biases on all sides.
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Negative Rating
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SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
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Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

This is a quality production, well-acted and well-produced and directed. Nathan West does a very good job as Charles B. Anderson, a promising young reporter who lives in the declining town of Dayton, Tennessee. When Baltimore Sun editor J.L. Mencken (Colm Meany) asks Anderson to make some compromising moral decisions regarding writing about the Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 Charles’ fiancee, Rose Elizabeth Williams (played terrifically by Ashley Johnson), forces him to decide which side he is really on. Colm Meany and Brian Dennehy also give strong performances in the movie, which focuses on the fact that Christianity and creationism do not have to be handled with ignorance but that indeed there are those who accept the Bible as “truth.” In fact, in one funny scene when William Jennings Bryan (Fred Thompson) is asked if he believes the Bible serves as a second science book, he says, “Oh no, science books have to be corrected all the time!”

Due to positive light thrown on the Bible and creationism, in spite of some of the characters in the movie making fun of “ignorant” Christians, we are pleased to award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film for ages twelve plus, and we encourage families everywhere to watch the DVD together and to talk about the time period in comparison to the conflict between evolution and creationism in this modern day. The movie does a nice job in giving the viewer information at the end as to what happened to the various principal characters and it is noted that Bryan College, founded in 1930, is still a powerful Christian college to this day.

Dove Rating Details

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Faith

None

0
Integrity

A man kicks a car in frustration; woman slaps fiancee who pawned her engagement ring; a man shoots gun toward the sky to gain attention; a photo of a boy's corpse and he has been beaten in the face and it is bloody and an eye is swollen shut.

1
Sex

Passionate kissing by a couple; an innuendo in which a man says about a woman, "I wouldn't mind seeing her without her bonnet".

2
Language

B-1; H (the place in the Bible as seen on a sign)-1; Butt-1; Piss-ant-1

1
Violence

A man kicks a car in frustration; woman slaps fiancee who pawned her engagement ring; a man shoots gun toward the sky to gain attention; a photo of a boy's corpse and he has been beaten in the face and it is bloody and an eye is swollen shut.

2
Drugs

Voiceover talks about the 20s and girls who smoke and booze; several scenes of cigar smoking; a character smokes a cigarette; a few scenes of drinking liquor and beer and a party scene; a drunken character vomits and then sleeps it off; a "scotch whiskey" comment.

1
Nudity

Drawing of Neanderthal man without shirt.

2
Other

A man jumps on train without a ticket and steals a newspaper from a man; man is seen urinating from waist up and the scene is not graphic; a girl is called a "half-breed"; prayer is offered up in court; a comment that religion is built on fairy tales; it's said a virgin could not have a child and that Jesus' resurrection after death meant his ideas lived on, not his body; a man is heard vomiting; a man is called a "darkie" and it is said a mentally ill woman committed suicide; a doctor wants to sterilize a young emotionally disturbed woman and this sterilization of many Americans against their will is mentioned at film's end.

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